Home Sweet Home

So I was supposed to go out of town last weekend. The idea was to fly stand-by to NC and spend some quality time with my 'old school' peeps. The problem was with the stand-by, I stood-by and watched as passengers loaded onto an over sold plane, then I went back home. I was really aching for some vacation time in the sweet dense air of Appalachia and so was more than a little disappointed as I tried to find my way back out of Sea-Tac.

My disappointment was soothed by the beautiful man who drove the cab I hailed home. He shared his strategies for staying awake, "stay hungry, it works better than coffee" and his opinion of America, "America is heaven, but I understand why Americans get frustrated by it sometimes. It's like how you were saying about the four seasons, 'how do you know to like summer if you don't have the winter?'"

After some hemming and hawing about how I wanted to spend my five vacation days (all at home or one at home, two on planes and two in NC) I decided to vacation in my own everyday life. I slept in, read lots, introduced a friend to the wonders of seaweed and chitons, had a beer with my Dad and ate a flipin' fantastic burger. In other words, I did all the things I normally do on a weekend, but there was more breathing room; I allowed myself to just enjoy the things I enjoy without any 'have to' looming. It's been great.